The Mighty Pen

Confusion From Within and the Mighty Pen

Last week, Skyline College sent out an email with revisions to it’s media policy discouraging all faculty from speaking with any press, including The Skyline View. The revised policy said something to the effect that no faculty member should speak directly with media personnel and that all questions from the media must be sent via email to the interviewee. The interviewee is then to submit said questions to the public relations department for review so that said questions can be answered “properly.”

The truly mighty pen comes through with backlash from not only us here at The Skyline View but also from local San Mateo media, The Daily Journal, as well. Pedaling backwards when questioned about this revised policy, Skyline officials responded saying that the way the email sounded or read was not actually what they were trying to articulate. Apparently, infringement upon Skyline’s faculty and staff’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech was actually not what they intended. According to an article in The Skyline View, the current, revised media policy is being revised once again to try and properly communicate and clarify what the school’s media policy actually is.

Do we really want to live in a world where the truth is filtered through some public relations and marketing department? This incident turned out to be a victory for the media and is a shining example of how powerful the press can be. The pen is truly mightier than the sword. Protect free speech!

By:Chris Dejohn

TSV Staff Writer